Welcome back to our name sponsor Bord Bia!

To sustain - a wonderful word that can be defined as "to supply with necessities", "to support from below" or "to support the spirits or resolution". It is a word that has been much on our mind lately at Plate to Page HQ as we continue to sustain relationships with our fellow instructors, with our wonderful past workshop participants, as well as our incredible past sponsors, many of whom have sponsored us more than once. Of course, the definitions above can also be applied to the role that our sponsors play, supplying us with necessities like wine, food and good bag gifts - but more importantly, sustaining us in spirit with their generous advice and encouragement.

And we like to think that it is as a result of our sustained relationships with various sponsors that we are now proud and privileged to welcome back our original name sponsor, Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board), who took a chance on us and  sponsored our very first workshop in Weimar in May 2011.  Bord Bia have confirmed that they are joining us once again as name sponsors for Plate to Page Ireland in 2013, and here is what Maeve Desmond, International Communications Manager of Bord Bia, had to say:

“Bord Bia – the Irish Food Board - are delighted to support the Plate to Page workshop being hosted in Ireland in 2013. Ireland is very lucky to have a vibrant and passionate food blogging community which Bord Bia have supported over the last few years and we are very excited that Plate to Page will visit Ireland to experience our wonderful food offerings and meet some of our wonderful food producers and bloggers! We wish Plate to Page every success and we warmly welcome food bloggers travelling to Ireland for the event.”

The idea of sustaining and nurturing also fits in well with the Origin Green Sustainability Charter developed by Bord Bia - an innovative ongoing voluntary programme that seeks to demonstrate the commitment of Irish food and drink manufacturers, both large and small, to operating in the most sustainable manner possible. Origin Green offers a structure that allows individual companies to communicate key sustainability issues, set targets and regularly report progress in achieving short, medium and long term goals. Bord Bia will publish participation and categorise companies relative to the progress they achieve against their stated targets.




Origin Green enables the Irish food & drink industry to demonstrate individually and collectively its commitments to sustainability, and provide the evidence that retailers, foodservices operators and manufacturers around the world are looking for.  Companies are asked to sign up to the Origin Green sustainability Charter by developing and implementing a multi-annual sustainability action plan. These plans and then annual progress reports are verified by a world leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, The SGS Group.

As part of Bord Bia's involvement in From Plate to Page Ireland, we will be sharing some more information about this wonderful initiative - and don't go away because the Plate to page team and Bord Bia might have a couple of surprise giveaways up our sleeve for you  in the run-up to Plate to Page Ireland!